The town of Kamikatsu, Japan has established itself as a zero waste town by implementing an extensive waste sorting and recycling program. Residents sort their waste into 45 categories and place them in the proper bins. Through these efforts, the town achieved an 81% waste recycling rate in 2016 and serves as a model for other communities pursuing zero waste goals.

1. Zero Waste City
Kamikatsu, Japan - A Zero Waste Town

2. Introduction
• Zero Waste is a philosophy that encourages
the redesign of resource life cycles so that all
products are reused.
• The goal is for no trash to be sent to
landfills, incinerators, or the ocean.

3. Zero Waste City Concept

4. Paul Palmer, Founder Zero Waste
Systems

5. Zero Waste Philosophy

6. Introduction
• The process recommended is one similar to the
way that resources are reused in nature.

7. Zero Waste International Alliance
(ZWIA)
• The definition adopted by the Zero Waste
International Alliance (ZWIA)

8. Definition
• Zero Waste: The conservation of all resources by
means of responsible production, consumption,
reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and
materials, without burning them, and without
discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the
environment or human health.

9. Zero Waste International Alliance
(ZWIA)

10. Zero Waste Management
• Zero Waste refers to waste management and planning
approaches which emphasize waste prevention as
opposed to end-of-pipe waste management.
• It is a whole systems approach that aims for a
massive change in the way materials flow through
society, resulting in no waste.

11. Zero Waste Management

12. Zero Waste Management
• Zero waste encompasses more than eliminating
waste through recycling and reuse, it focuses on
restructuring production and distribution systems to
reduce waste.

13. Zero Waste Management
• Zero waste is more of a goal or ideal rather than a
hard target.
• Zero Waste provides guiding principles for
continually working towards eliminating wastes.

14. Zero Waste Management

15. Cradle-to-Cradle / Cradle-to-Grave
• Cradle-to-grave is a term used to describe a linear
model for materials that begins with resource
extraction, moves to product manufacturing, and,
ends by a ‘grave’, where the product is disposed of
in a landfill.
• Cradle-to-grave is in direct contrast to cradle-to-
cradle.

16. Cradle-to-Grave

17. Cradle-to-Cradle
• Cradle-to-Cradle is a term used in life-cycle
analysis to describe a material or product that
is recycled into a new product at the end of
its life, so that ultimately there is no waste.

18. Cradle-to-Cradle

19. Cradle-to-Cradle
• Cradle-to-cradle focuses on designing
industrial systems so that materials flow in
closed loop cycles which mean that waste is
minimized, and waste products can be
recycled and reused.

20. Cradle-to-Cradle

21. Cradle-to-Cradle
• Cradle-to-cradle simply goes beyond
dealing with issues of waste after it has been
created, by addressing problems at the source
and by re-defining problems by focusing on
design.

22. Cradle-to-Cradle

23. Cradle-to-Cradle
• The cradle-to-cradle model is sustainable and
considerate of life and future generations.
• Just as in the natural world, in which one
organism’s ‘waste’, cycles through an ecosystem to
provide nourishment for other living things,
cradle-to-cradle materials circulate in closed-loop
cycles, providing nutrients for nature or industry

24. Cradle-to-Cradle

25. Problem of Waste
• The spread of industrialization worldwide has
been accompanied by a large increase in waste
production.
• In 2012 the World Bank stated that 1.3 billion tonnes
of municipal waste was produced by urban
populations and estimates that that number will
reach 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025 (Global Solid
Waste Management Market - Analysis and
Forecast).

26. Problem of Waste

27. Problem of Waste
• There is a growing global population that is
faced with limited resources from the
environment.
• To relieve the pressures placed on the finite
resources available it has become more important
to prevent waste.
• To achieve zero waste, waste management has
to move from a linear system to being more
cyclical so that materials, products and
substances are used as efficiently as possible.

28. Problem of Waste

29. Problem of Waste
• Zero waste promotes not only reuse and recycling,
but, more importantly, it promotes prevention and
product designs that consider the entire product life
cycle.
• Zero waste designs strive for reduced materials
use, use of recycled materials, use of more stronger
materials, longer product lives, reparability, and
ease of disassembly at end of life.

30. Problem of Waste

31. Problem of Waste
• Zero waste strongly supports sustainability
by protecting the environment, reducing
costs and producing additional jobs in the
management and handling of wastes back into
the industrial cycle.

32. A Zero waste strategy may be applied to businesses,
communities, industrial sectors, schools and homes.
• Benefits proposed by advocates include:
• Saving money. Since waste is a sign of inefficiency,
the reduction of waste can reduce costs.
• Faster Progress. A zero waste strategy improves
upon production processes and improving
environmental prevention strategies which can lead to
take larger, more innovative steps.

33. A Zero waste strategy may be applied to businesses,
communities, industrial sectors, schools and homes.

34. A Zero waste strategy may be applied to businesses,
communities, industrial sectors, schools and homes
• Supports sustainability. A zero waste strategy
supports all three of the generally accepted goals
of sustainability - economic well-being,
environmental protection, and social well-being.
• Improved material flows. A zero waste strategy
would use far fewer new raw materials and send
no waste materials to landfills.

35. A Zero waste strategy may be applied to businesses,
communities, industrial sectors, schools and homes

36. History of Zero Waste Management
Programmes
• The movement gained publicity and reached a
peak in 1998–2002, and since then has been moving
from "theory into action" by focusing on how a "zero
waste community" is structured and behaves.
• The website of the Zero Waste International
Alliance has a listing of communities across the
globe that have created public policy to promote
zero-waste practices.

37. http://zwia.org/

38. History of Zero Waste Management
Programmes

39. Zero Waste Management Programmes
• The tension between zero waste, viewed as post-
discard total recycling of materials only, and zero
waste as the reuse of all high level function remains a
serious one today.
• It is probably the defining difference between
established recyclers and emerging zero-wasters.

40. Zero Waste Management Programmes

41. Zero Waste Management Programmes
• Many observers look to nature as an
ultimate model for production and
innovative materials.

42. Zero Waste Management
Programmes
• Bio-degradable plastic is the most
prominent example.
• One side argues that biodegradation of plastic
is wasteful because plastic is expensive and
environmentally damaging to make.

43. Bio-degradable Plastic

44. Zero Waste Management Programmes
• The other side argues that keeping plastic
out of a dump or the sea is the sole benefit of
interest.

45. Packaging Example
• Milk can be shipped in many forms. One of
the traditional forms was reusable
returnable glass milk bottles, often home
delivered by a milkman.
• From the zero waste standpoint, the reuse of
bottles is beneficial because the material
usage per trip can be less than other
systems.

46. Packaging Example

47. Recycling and rotting
(composting)
• It is important to distinguish recycling from Zero
Waste.
• Some claim that the key component to zero waste is
recycling while others reject that notion in favor of
reusing high function.
• The common understanding of recycling is simply
that of placing bottles and cans in a recycle bin.

48. Recycling and rotting
(composting)

49. Recycling and rotting
(composting)
• The movement toward recycling has separated itself
from the concept of zero waste
• One example of this is the computer industry where
worldwide millions of PC's are disposed of as electronic
waste each year (160 million in 2007).
• Those computers that enter the recycling stream are
broken down into a small amount of raw materials
while most merely enter dumps through export to
third world countries.

50. Recycling and rotting
(composting)
• On the other hand, there is an industry, more aligned
with the Zero Waste principle of design for long term
reuse, that actually repairs computers.
• It is called the Computer Refurbishing industry
and it predates the current campaign to just collect
and ship electronics.

51. Recycling and rotting
(composting)

52. Recycling and rotting
(composting)
• The recycling movement has been embraced
by the garbage industry because it serves so
well as green-washing.
• Zero Waste, on the other hand, offers the
garbage industry no such screen against public
condemnation of waste, and therefore actually
threatens the continued need for garbage
disposal.

53. Reduce, Reuse And Recycle
• Zero waste is poorly supported by the enactment
of government laws to enforce the waste hierarchy
of refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot (compost).
• In practice, these laws invariably emphasize
destruction and recycling, while the reuse component
is marginalized.

54. Recycling and rotting
(composting)
• A special feature of Zero Waste as a design
principle is that it can be applied to any
product or process, in any situation or at
any level.

55. Recycling and rotting
(composting)

56. Recycling and rotting
(composting)

57. Recycling and rotting
(composting)
• Zero waste on the other hand, is not based in
waste management limitations to begin with but
requires that we maximize our existing reuse
efforts while creating and applying new methods that
minimize and eliminate destructive methods like
incineration and recycling.
• Zero Waste strives to ensure that products are
designed to be repaired, refurbished, re-
manufactured and generally reused

58. Recycling and rotting
(composting)
• Online web services, like Free Cycle or the
reGives Network have risen in popularity over
the last decade where locals can give items
that they no longer need to others locally in
an effort to keep items out of landfills and
work toward a zero waste lifestyle.

59. The Freecycle Network is a grassroots and entirely
non-profit movement of people who are giving (and
getting) stuff for free in their own towns

60. https://www.freecycle.org/

61. Re-use Or Rot Of Waste
• The waste sent to landfills may be harvested
as useful materials, such as in the
production of solar energy or natural
fertilizer /de-composted manure for crops.
• It may also be reused and recycled for
something that we can actually use.

62. Re-use Or Rot Of Waste

63. How to achieve Zero Waste
• National and provincial governments often set
targets and may provide some funding, but on a
practical level, waste management programs (e.g.
pickup, drop-off, or containers for recycling and
composting) are usually implemented by local
governments, possibly with regionally shared
facilities

64. Zero Waste Hierarchy

65. Zero waste Initiatives
Various governments have declared zero waste as a goal, including:
• Brazil
– Florianópolis, Santa Catharina
• Canada
– Vancouver (see Zero Waste 2040 Strategy)
• Italy
– Capannori, Tuscany
• Japan
– Kamikatsu, Tokushima
• United States
– Austin, Texas
– Boulder, Colorado
– Fort Collins, Colorado
– San Francisco, California

66. Terminologies
• Pre-Cycling
• Pre-cycling is the practice of reducing waste by
attempting to avoid bringing items which will
generate waste into home or business.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
also cites that pre-cycling is the preferred method of
integrated solid waste management because it cuts
waste at its source and therefore trash is eliminated
before it is created.

67. Pre-Cycling

68. Pre-Cycling

69. Environmentalism
• Environmentalism or environmental rights
is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social
movement regarding concerns for
environmental protection and improvement of
the health of the environment.

70. Environmentalism

71. Mini-waste
• Mini-waste
• Mini-waste was a European project operated
from January 2010 to December 2012,
designed to "bring bio-waste back to life".
• In other words, it was intended to
demonstrate that it is possible to
significantly reduce the amount of bio-waste
at a local level.

72. "bring bio-waste back to life"

73. Sustainable packaging
• Sustainable packaging
• Sustainable packaging is the development
and use of packaging which results in
improved sustainability.
• This involves increased use of life cycle
inventory (LCI) and life cycle assessment
(LCA) to help guide the use of packaging
which reduces the environmental impact and
ecological footprint.

74. Sustainable packaging

75. Zero Waste Event
• Zero Waste Event
• A Zero Waste Event (or "Zee Wee" as it has been
nicknamed) is one in which event organizers plan
ahead to reduce solid waste from the event, reuse
various elements such as banners, and set up
Zero-Waste Stations for those recyclable and
compostable materials such as paper cups, food
scraps, and plastic water bottles that are generated by
the event.

76. Zero Waste Event

77. Zero-waste fashion
• Zero-waste fashion
• Zero-waste fashion refers to items of clothing
that generate little or no textile waste in their
production.
• It can be considered to be a part of the broader
Sustainable fashion movement.

78. Zero-waste fashion

79. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• The simple way this Japanese town has
become nearly zero-waste
• Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, was the
first municipality in Japan to promulgate a
Zero Waste policy.
• Town residents sort waste into 45 types in 13
categories, and managed to recycle 81% of
all their refuse in 2016.

80. Kamikatsu, Japan

81. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• The town of Kamikatsu is located near the
center of Tokushima Prefecture, along the
upper reaches of the Katsuura River, about
an hour’s drive from the capital city
Tokushima.
• A population of 1,580 resides in some 800
households, gathered into 55 communities of
various sizes that dot the landscape at
altitudes ranging from 100 to 800 meters.

82. Zero Waste Town

83. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• In 2003, Kamikatsu set itself a goal of
eliminating waste by 2020 without resorting
to incinerators or landfills, thus becoming the
first municipality in Japan to promulgate a
“Zero Waste” policy.

84. Kamikatsu, Japan

85. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• Welcome to Kamikatsu, Japan- the zero waste
town. In this spot of the globe people take the
concept of recycling very seriously.
• They categorize their trash into a whopping thirty
four different categories, namely; Aluminium cans,
Steel cans, spray cans, PET bottles, bottle caps, paper,
paper cartons, cardboard, newspaper, paper flyers,
magazines, milk cartons and so on.

86. Case Study
Zero Waste Town

87. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• Initially, Kamikatsu was openly incinerating their
trash. But after witnessing the ill effects of this
process on both the environment and humans, the
people of this town decided to create the zero waste
program.
• The program was initiated in the year 2003 and
since then eighty percent of the town’s trash either
gets recycled, reused, or composed.

88. Case Study
Zero Waste Town

89. Case Study
Zero Waste Town

90. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• The residents must wash and clean their
trash at home and must split them
according to 34 categories by putting them
in different plastic bags or boxes and then
take to the recycling facility.
• One must walk to the facility and drop off
their trash.

91. Case Study
Zero Waste Town

92. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• The residents claim that this task was very
difficult and painful in the beginning.
• A lot of convincing was required to gain the
full cooperation of all the 1700 residents of
this town. Many were opposed to this idea,
but later realized the benefits of such a
scheme and decided to go forward with it.

93. Case Study
Zero Waste Town

94. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• Now looking at this town’s recycling facility,
there are monitors present whom check whether
the trash has been properly cleaned and
categorized at the time of delivery (by the
resident).
• These trashes are then put into the
corresponding 34 huge bins before being taken
for recycling. There are stickers on the bins
that clearly depict the initial type of trash that
has to go inside it and the final recycled
product that will be obtained.

95. Case Study
Zero Waste Town

96. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• Another exciting feature of this town is that it
has something called as the kuru-kuru shop,
meaning ‘circular’, where residents can
bring in and take used items for free!

97. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• There is also a factory where local women
make items out of discarded products such
as old kimono’s or old clothes or used flags.
• The town asks the grannies and other
homemakers, whom really have the skills
for sewing, to turn them (old clothes) into
new clothes or blankets or bed sheets or pillow
covers or purses or hand bags or stuffed dolls.

98. Kuru-kuru Shop

99. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• Businesses all over Kamikatsu have incorporated
ways to become zero waste.
• The city officials claim that they save almost two-
third’s the money that they earlier spent while
burning the trash.

100. Case Study
Zero Waste Town
• The resident’s even claim that they are
trying to find new was to change their
lifestyle, to reduce the amount waste that
they produce. The people proudly say that
they look after each other and help one and
other to reduce, reuse and recycle their
trash.

101. Kamikatsu, Japan
Zero Waste Town

102. References
The Kamikatsu Zero Waste Campaign
• https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu900038/the-kamikatsu-zero-waste-campaign-
how-a-little-town-achieved-a-top-recycling-rate.html
The story of the zero-waste town of Kamikatsu, Japan
• https://www.businessinsider.in/The-simple-way-this-Japanese-town-has-become-nearly-
zero-waste/articleshow/59531410.cms
The 5 R's of Zero Waste - Going Zero Waste
• https://www.goingzerowaste.com/blog/the-5-rs-of-zero-waste
What is Zero Waste?
http://mediaroom.wm.com/what-is-zero-waste/
Zero waste
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_waste
Zero Waste Cities
• https://zerowastecities.eu/
Zero Waste to Landfill
• https://www.helistrat.co.uk/services/waste-management/zero-waste-to-landfill/

103. Paulo Coelho — 'Nothing in this world is
useless in the eyes of God.'